00:00As soon as he would see me, he wanted to be out and on my head.
00:06A lot of times when I was with him, I was by myself.
00:08My kids were at school, my wife was at work, and I worked from home,
00:11so I would just have my max moments.
00:15He would come with me everywhere.
00:17What are you doing, bud? Are you just saying hi?
00:20And that was such a warm feeling to know that someone was excited to see me
00:24and wanted to crawl out and have some fun with me.
00:28It was right before Halloween.
00:30This call came in, and the guy said,
00:32I know you're the snake guy, but I have a lizard.
00:35This dude crawling around in the neighborhood.
00:38I think I'll help you.
00:39Sometimes he can bite.
00:40Oh, you're not looking to bite me, are you?
00:43Oh, my God. You've got to be kidding me.
00:47This is like...
00:49Oh, my God.
00:52I was just in awe,
00:53because I've always found panther chameleon
00:57to be the most fascinating lizard.
00:59Dude, you are the coolest dude ever.
01:03When I got home, my girls had friends over,
01:06so all of them were just giggling.
01:11We made the collective decision
01:13to care for it temporarily,
01:15put ads on, and try to find a tonic.
01:18But nobody claimed him,
01:19so Max became part of my family.
01:22Are you funny?
01:30He's going to get a whiff of those toes
01:32and probably fall.
01:33Is that ticklish?
01:34Yeah, it's so ticklish.
01:36We had live plants around our house,
01:38so if we were watching TV,
01:40I'd put them in the ficus tree,
01:41and he would just sit there.
01:43And he was really cool.
01:45I would spend a lot of time with him.
01:47It's funny,
01:48because he had his enclosure
01:49in my daughter's room.
01:51But when I would walk in the room,
01:52he would start coming down.
01:53Good boy.
01:54And he would do the funniest things.
02:01He loves reaching for things.
02:04Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme.
02:06He was always happy.
02:08As humans,
02:09we tend to overcomplicate our lives.
02:12We need to buy more.
02:13We need to do more.
02:14But Max was Max.
02:15He kind of taught me
02:17just enjoy the little steps in life.
02:20I loved him.
02:21I loved Max.
02:22He was my buddy.
02:23One day,
02:24his colors all kind of faded.
02:26I contacted a local expert
02:29on pants and chameleons,
02:30and he just said,
02:31he's an old man.
02:32Make him comfortable.
02:34And then he was gone.
02:36We had a big family celebration
02:38of life for Max.
02:40But I know for sure
02:42that I gave Max,
02:44you know,
02:45an amazing,
02:48amazing life.
02:50Yeah, this is a new little
02:51climbing structure I made.
02:52What do you think, dude?
02:55People would look at me and go,
02:56you're getting upset
02:57about a freaking lizard?
02:58But Max wasn't just a lizard.
03:01I hope others find as much joy
03:04in Max as I did
03:06and my family did.
03:07And if they do,
03:09then Max lives on, right?
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